Bloody brilliance ... Tom Cruise in the film version of Interview with the Vampire

In these post-Twilight days, vampires are so ubiquitous that it's hard to believe they were once confined to a dark corner of the horror genre. But this mainstream acceptance – all sparkly rock star vampires and comedy bloodsuckers – has leeched away the terror of the shadow rising at the foot of the bed. Vampires just aren't scary any more. It's like Dracula never happened.

One hundred years after the death of Bram Stoker, the Horror Writers Assocation is reminding us what vampire fiction is really about with the launch of an award for the Bram Stoker Vampire Novel of the Century. After considering 35 novels published or translated into English over the last 100 years, a jury of writers and academics have come up with a shortlist of six for the prize.

So here are the six titles they consider to have "had the greatest impact on the horror genre since the publication of Dracula":

Salem's Lot by Stephen KingMany of us might have come to this through the genuinely spooky TV miniseries starring, um, Hutch off Starsky and Hutch. I'll not forget that dead kid scratching at the window in a hurry. Published in 1975, it was only King's second novel and showcased his now familiar themes of a man returning to his hometown to find a plague of evil.

The Soft Whisper of the Dead by Charles L GrantThe author, who died in 2006, was a prolific writer and published books under six pseudonyms as well as his own name. This 1983 novel is part of a 12-book series set in his fictional Connecticut town of Oxrun Station, which gets almost as much paranormal action as Stephen King's made-up bits of Maine.

Anno Dracula by Kim NewmanWere I a betting man, I'd put my stake (geddit?) on this. Author and film critic Newman's 1992 novel is part of his epic alternate history series which takes its jumping off point as Van Helsing failing miserably to despatch Dracula, who goes on to marry Queen Victoria and establish a British upper-class of actual, not metaphorical, blood-suckers. Subsequent books brought in all kinds of real and fictional characters, with Newman plunging his fangs into punk, the first world war, and supercool 50s Rome.

Interview with the Vampire by Anne RiceBefore Twilight, this is what the archetypal vampire fan had in their purple velvet tote-bag. It's almost astonishing to think it's 34 years old. Famously filmed with Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and Kirsten Dunst, it introduced Rice's characters Lestat and Louis and even spawned a Broadway musical. It's apparently sold 8m copies.

Hotel Transylvania by Chelsea Quinn YarbroAmerican writer Yarbro launched her 25-volume (and counting) series about le Comte de Saint Germain with this book in 1978. You can say what you like about vampire fans, they're certainly loyal once they hit a vein to their taste. Yarbro is possibly one of the most prolific writers in the field today, publishing three or four books a year under various names, including mysteries and romances.

The winning book will be announced on March 31 at the World Horror Convention. But what do you make of the HWA's list? Should Twilight, by dint of its huge popularity, been in there despite a lot of "serious" genre figures hating it? What about Poppy Z Brite's Lost Souls? F Paul Wilson's The Keep? I have a fondness for Game of Thrones author George RR Martin's slow-burning vamp novel Fevre Dream, and in the modern canon Jasper Kent's Twelve is hard to beat. Over to you.